KARACHI: Four suspected militants belonging to the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) were shot dead in an encounter by a special unit of police in Qayyumabad, adjacent to the Defence Housing Authority, on Friday morning, according to officials.

They were allegedly planning an attack on a security intelligence official’s vehicle that usually passed through the area, said CID counterterrorism unit official-in- charge Raja Umer Khattab.

He said the police received a tip-off that the suspects planning to carry out a gun attack on the vehicle of the intelligence official, followed by a suicide bomb attack, were sitting near a truck stand in Qayyumabad. The police conducted a raid there and four suspects were gunned down in an ensuing exchange of fire. One of the deceased was identified as Sajjad alias Kargil, a commander of the AQIS in Karachi, Mr Khattab said.

The other dead men were identified as Mohammed Hashim, Yasir Arafat and Shamim alias Commando.

The officer said Sajjad had gained expertise in preparing suicide jackets and explosive material. Till 2009, he was a citizen of Bangladesh and a member of the Jamaat-ul-Muslimeen, a religious party in Bangladesh. He shifted to Pakistan following a crackdown against the group there. He got a computerised national identity card issued in his name through an agent in Karachi. He then shifted to Waziristan, where he joined militants namely Asif alias Chotu, Qari Zafar and Umer Farooq, who was recently killed in a drone attack there, said the CID counterterrorism unit head.

Sajjad did his Bayat at the hand of Asim Umer, head of the AQIS in 2014. “He was made the commander of the AQIS in Karachi and was tasked by Asim Umer to recruit Bengalis to establish a network for Jehadi activities there,” said Mr Khattab.

Sajjad had allegedly killed seven policemen, the officer said, adding that he had also been involved in four blasts through improvised explosive devices in Karachi.

“He had allegedly done full recce of the route of the intelligence officer and was planning to target him when the encounter took place at 7.30am,” said the CID officer.

The police claimed to have seized a suicide jacket. Mr Khattab said he had never seen such a suicide jacket since he had started dealing with terror cases in Karachi. A Kalashnikov assault rifle was also seized from the custody of the suspects, he added.

Two suspects killed in Lyari

Two suspected gangsters were shot dead in separate encounters in Lyari following gun and grenade attacks which left five policemen wounded late Thursday night, officials said.

The police conducted a targeted raid in Saifee Lane of Baghdadi where in an encounter a suspect, Abid, was killed. He was a member of the Uzair Baloch gang and was involved in several murder cases, said City SP Aftab Nizamani.

In another encounter in the Jhatpat Market area of Kalakot, the police killed a suspected member of the Baba Ladla gang, Ramazan, added the officer.

The encounters took place during a search operation that was launched following the gun and grenade attacks on the policemen in Baghdadi, said SP Nizamani.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2015

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